Isaac moore



UNTTED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC MOORE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELFAND FRANCIS N.GOVE, OF SAME PLAGE.

STEERING APPARATUS.

Speccaton of Letters Patent No. 19,813, dated March 30, 18%58.

To all whom it may concern:

Bel it known that I, ISAAC MOORE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use certainnew and useful Improvements in Steering Apparatus for Vessels; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXactdescriptionof the construction and operation of my said improvements, referencebeing had to the annexed drawing, making part of this, specification,wherein- Figure l, is a plan of my apparatus complete and Fig. 2, is avertical cross section through the rudder stock.

Similar marks of reference indicate the same parts in both figures.

Various devices for steering vessels have been'made, in which a screw orscrews are used, an instance of which will be found in the patent ofJohn Rapson in England August 23rd 1834i, in whichtwo screws arementioned as acting on the rudder head by means of nuts and rods to thetiller arms; and in the United States patent granted to Jessee Reid in1849 an endless screw and nuts are used, as well vas in some othersteering apparatus.

My invention therefore does not consist in the screws or any arrangementof the same, but in providing such screws with an endwisemotion or play,resisted by a spring or other yielding pressure, in such a manner thatany strain or concussion on the rudder stock from a sea striking therudder is relieved to such an extent as to preserve said rudder stock,whereas it has been found practically that in all those cases where ascrew has been used acting rigidly on the rudder, that if said rudder beon a sea-go ing vessel, the concussion caused by a sea striking t-herudder, will and does in the course of comparatively short time twistwrench and split the rudder stock tov such an extent as to becomeunreliable, if not entirely useless; involving considerable cost as wellas incurring fearful hazard of the rudder becoming lost or ineflicientand that under circumstances the most critical.

In the drawing a, a, are frames set on blocks or stanchions from thedeck and connected together by the side bars I), b. c, is

the main shaft in said frames a, and receiving at one end the steeringwheel (Z, of any ordinary construction. On the shaft c, near one end andwithin the frames is a gear wheel or pinion e, matching into pinions orwheels f f, near the ends of two screws a (right and left handed) thejournals of which pass into and through the frames a, c, and areelongated so as to allow endwise play, and the wheels f f are not asthick as the gear e, so that the said wheels f f, by any endwise motion,cannot become detached from the wheel e. On these screws, nuts g g areprovided and so fitted as to travel against and be guided by the sidebars Z), b, and also receive the circular part of the tiller bolts h,it, that pass down into the slots of the tiller arms 'o'. i

le, is the upper end of the rudder stock.

Z, Z, are springs acting against the end of the screws a', -to resistany endwisemotion to the same. These springs may be of metal in the formof a flat half ellipse as shown, or may be spiral, volute, india rubberor any other suitable spring or equivalent device to act against theends of said screws with the desired amount of yielding pressure.

It will now be apparent that the position of the rudder can be regulatedby the nuts g, g, on turning the wheel d, in one direction or the otherand in case a sea strikes the rudder the screws fr, slide endwise inopposite directions against the yielding pressure of springs orequivalent device and prevent any injury arising to the rudder stock. Itshould be borne in mind that an endwise motion on the screws of from onehalf an inch to one inch will generally be suflicient to afford all therelief necessary to the rudder stock.

I do not limit myself to the relative sizes of the gears e, and f, norto the eXact arrangement of the screws and nuts, as allA these parts arewell known, and might be varied to suitparticular circumstances, and Ido not claim a yielding motion between the steeringgvheel and rudderhead, as this has before been allowed by means of springs and by ropes,of a .slightly yielding nature,

but I am not aware of any previous instance in which the screws actingon the rudder head have been allowed an endwise motion resisted bysprings or equivalent yielding substantially as and for the purposesspeoi- 10 pressure as specified7 therefore ed.

What I claim as my invention and desire In Witness whereof I havehereunto set /J to secure by Letters Patent ismy signature thisthirtieth day of Novemf 5 The manner herein described of relieving ber1857.

the rudder stock of any sudden strain or ISAAC MOORE. concussion by theendwise motion allowed Witnesses: Y to the screws in combination withthe HENRY F. WARREN, springs Z, Z, or equivalent yielding pressure, L.NI. STONE.

